Andy Serkis' stunning grasp of motion capture acting is one of the reasons Peter Jackson made him a second unit director on The Hobbit. Now the Gollum actor plans to apply those directing skills to a motion-capture project of his own: a new adaptation of George Orwell's political fable Animal Farm.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced Serkis' new project, which he is undertaking with Serkis and producer Jonathan Cavendish's London-based performance-capture studio, The Imaginarium. Animal Farm is still in its concept stages as the team figures out how best to work with quadrupedal characters, but Serkis has plenty of ideas about the script:

On the storytelling, Serkis says: "We're keeping it fable-istic and [aimed at] a family audience. We are not going to handle the politics in a heavy-handed fashion. It is going to be emotionally centered in a way that I don't think has been seen before. The point of view that we take will be slightly different to how it is normally portrayed and the characters, We are examining this in a new light."

Serkis has said that he might also act in the film, but doesn't give any indication as to what role he might play. Is Serkis more a Snowball or a Napoleon?